A DEACON, the Revd Mike McGurk, who is to be priested next month, has completed a 100-day fast, taking only water and vitamin drinks.
Mr McGurk, who is Assistant Curate of St Mary’s, Haughton Green, in Denton, Manchester, lost seven stone, and plans to run in the Manchester 10K race on 18 May.
Mr McGurk, a 39-year-old former Roman Catholic from Co. Mayo in Ireland, was 22 stone when he began the fast. He had tried meditation and WeightWatchers and had “a measure of success”, he said last week.
He said that he had undertaken the fast because he wanted to do something acceptable to God. “We were planning the scripture study for the year, and we chose the verse from Romans: ‘In view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.’
“I realised that, if I was to stand up there and teach this, I had to live it as well.”
It had been “a painful 100 days”, he said, but he would not have done it had he thought he was putting his health in danger. He had had regular medical check-ups at the Salford Hospital’s weight-management clinic, which included blood and urine tests. He had had to drink eight pints of water a day, as well as a vitamin and mineral drink.
His main expense had been the need to change his entire wardrobe, as his clothes no longer fitted him. But he had never felt hungry: “Never hunger pains, never headaches, no side-effects. One of the Lord’s earliest words to me were: ‘I have food that you do not understand.’”
|
back to News
previous story
|
next story 
back to top
.gif "New, nearly new, and used cars for church and charity © site")
